Israeli police shoot, kill 17-year-old Palestinian in Hebron

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli border police shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian girl near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

The girl was identified as Dania Irsheid, 17, from central Hebron.

An Israeli police spokesperson said that the girl was shot dead after police officers allegedly saw "a knife in her hand." No Israelis were injured during the incident.

A Palestinian woman who was in the area told Ma'an that she watched as "occupation soldiers covered a young Palestinian woman who was lying on the ground bleeding without giving her medical aid at all, before an ambulance arrived and took her."

Another witness told Ma'an that he saw a schoolgirl with a schoolbag on her back trying to cross the Israeli checkpoint near the Ibrahimi mosque.

"An Israeli soldier asked her to take the knife out of her bag, then he immediately fired gunshots into the air," the witness said. "Seconds later the schoolgirl was lying on the ground bleeding."

The woman's death brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces to at least 57 since the beginning of the month.

While 29 of those killed were shot after allegedly carrying out attacks on Israelis, a number of alleged attacks have been disputed by Palestinian witnesses and investigations by rights groups who say the suspects posed no threat at the time of their death.

Video footage in a number of cases has raised criticism of what Israeli rights group B'Tselem terms "extrajudicial executions," where a "shoot-to-kill" policy advocated by Israeli officials has led to high numbers of unnecessary deaths.

Hebron has seen a particularly high death toll in recent weeks with nine Palestinians shot dead since late September -- in every case after an alleged stabbing attempt -- and one Palestinian activist dying from excessive tear gas inhalation.

At least nine Israelis have been killed by Palestinians since Oct. 1, leading Israeli authorities to deploy large numbers of Israeli military personnel and police forces across the occupied Palestinian territory.

How an Israeli soldier knew she had a knife in her bag. Did He say to her?. "Hey little girl, do you have a knife in your bag, she said yes. Are you going to stab me with it?. She said yes. Bang he shot her. And a headline on Yahoo said, Israel foil a stabbing. Really.

25/10/2015 15:44

Joe Fattal / USA

Cont...If you ask me that was pure murder. There is no way the girl would have said she had a knife when he asked her and their is no way the Israeli knew she had one either. Or when he asked her she probably had one got scare and told him about it and she shot her. That's murder.

25/10/2015 15:48

KeyRan / UK

If the knife was in her bag and she was shot then how is it laying 3ft from her body?Did they disturb the scene to make it "look better" ?

25/10/2015 17:15

Rena / Israel and USA

Maan prefers to ignore the fact that Israelis have been slashed, stabbed and killed by knife wielding individuals. What would you do if you were faced with a person holding a knife, ready to stab you? Maan must know that Arab religious leaders are telling their people to go out and stab Jews.

25/10/2015 17:58

Amin / Nehterlands

Israeli Police is criminal. This poor girl murdered in cold blood!

25/10/2015 18:26

Colin Wright / USA

Rena: 'Maan prefers to ignore the fact that Israelis have been slashed, stabbed and killed by knife wielding individuals.' Rena prefers to ignore the fact that for every actual stabbing attack, the Zionists have shot down ten people and simply claimed there was a stabbing attack.

25/10/2015 20:58

mark anthony / uk

if you are a soldier at a checkpoint with god knows how many armed men around you and someone has a knife in their hand you step back out of arm's reach and you make an arrest, using a gun if needs be to make the person put down the knife and put their hands in the air. is that not how it's done?

25/10/2015 21:29

aaron / usa

to all those saying israel must be wrong surely u have a bit of a brain left to know the reporting here isn't exactly impartial. even the 2 " witnesses " quoted have 2 different stories.

25/10/2015 21:30

mark anthony / uk

If someone comes at you with a knife to stab you, wakl away and shoot them in a leg. safe. They're alive. They go on trial for it. if someone has a knife in their bag, even easier to make arrest. but israelis dont arrest arabs they shoot them dead instead cos they are racist.

25/10/2015 21:32

Carol Scheller / Switzerland

That knife is so cunningly put in just the right place - who are the murderers trying to fool ? Horror !

25/10/2015 21:45

Mn / Australia

Israel have innocent blood on their hands. Their day will come.

25/10/2015 22:18

Violet / UK

Has anyone seen this reported on international news?

25/10/2015 22:37

Helen Parks / UK

Absolutely unbelievable that the heavily armed security forces could not have disabled this girl. Instead, yet again, we get an extrajudicial execution.

26/10/2015 00:21

Esa / US

Israeli forces are numb to the killing of humans.

26/10/2015 00:50

Ivan / Indonesia

I remember Krav Maga has a knife disarming technique for fighting in CQC, so what's their excuse now for shooting a girl with a "knife" inside her bag?

"It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him. And if the truth is undeniable, you create your own." - John Konrad

26/10/2015 01:17

Chimo / USA

Some of these comments are almost laughable, except the anti Semite Colin who makes his living in his own little world. Still blathering on about how bad Israel is. The rest of the anti Israel commenters are just ignorant about Israel period.

26/10/2015 02:48

Colin Wright / USA

Esa: 'Israeli forces are numb to the killing of humans.' Please. They're not numb. They obviously enjoy it and seek out opportunities to do it.

26/10/2015 04:39

ian / australia (1)

A few years ago, in the Ibrahimi mosque, a Palestinian schoolgirl with a group of friends in white scarfs said to me, "Can I ask you a question? What do you think of the weather in Palestine?" She was trying out her English. I said, "Palestine is beautiful though it's a bit hot today and your English is perfect"

26/10/2015 05:37

ian / australia (2)

(contd.) which pleased her though she said, "No, no, no. it's not." She was happy, friendly and confident and felt secure enough in the tranquil green mosque to approach a stranger. For all I know, it was Dania Irsheid. And if it wasn't, I'm sure Dania was just like her because so many young Palestinians are.

26/10/2015 05:38

DWV / USA

Is that Israeli calmly having a cup of coffee, while the Palestinian girl lies dying on the ground behind him? How CRASS!

26/10/2015 07:49

Fred / UK

A young school girl killed by an Israeli police following the instruction of his prime minister Netenyahoo,how many more Palestinians will be killed by the Israeli apartheid state police and army before the international community move to protect the Palestinian in the occupied territories

26/10/2015 20:24

ian / australia (3)

(contd.) Look at the photos of her lifeless body on the ground then check out this message from another young girl, Eden Levihttp://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151008/1028223011/facebook-racism-israel-scandal.htmland ask yourself has Israel become a horrific failed state and Israelis psychopathic extremists calling for blood.

26/10/2015 21:13

Jeremy / UK

Ian - no, in my experience it has not. In general, Israelis aren't racist, certainly not psychopathic extremists calling for blood. That description is as ridiculous and inaccuate as saying the same thing about Palestinians, or that all Australian Aboriginals are "drunk child rapists".

27/10/2015 13:11

Jeremy / UK

ian (part 2) - The actual reality, and mind set is far more complex and nuanced than that, obviously. My brother lives in Jerusalem, and fears to take his children outside. He is lucky to be able to rent a car so he doesn't have to walk with them down the street. People are on edge. This is a war.

27/10/2015 13:14

Jeremy / UK

I don't know what to believe, but there's obviously another side to this story. There are attacks on police all over the place, they are also on edge. The "stabbing intifada" rhetoric obviously fuels this tension.

27/10/2015 13:19

Jonny / UK

@aaron - even the 2 " witnesses " quoted have 2 different stories.

Explain how the 2 witnesses contradicted each other.

Cameras all over checkpoints so easy to prove what happened. CNN has more on this.

27/10/2015 18:04

Colin Wright / USA

To Chimo: 'Some of these comments are almost laughable, except the anti Semite Colin who makes his living in his own little world. Still blathering on about how bad Israel is.' So if I objected to the Third Reich, that would demonstrate that I was bigoted against Germans?

27/10/2015 18:21

Colin Wright / USA

To Jeremy: 'Ian - no, in my experience it has not. In general, Israelis aren't racist, certainly not psychopathic extremists calling for blood. ' Actually, in general they are. Look at the poll results. I'm sorry -- but that nice, reasonable Israel just isn't there. It never was.

27/10/2015 18:23

ianb / australia (1)

Very reasonable, Jeremy, but the sight of 17-year-old Dania Irsheid on the ground in her blood soaked scarf and a vile selfie by a pouty Israeli (which made her mother so proud) makes me not want to be particularly "nuanced". Sociopathic cruelty effects me like that. And 16k "likes" for a racist Israeli teen

28/10/2015 03:16

ian / australia (2)

(contd.) is a lot of Israelis who see nothing wrong with blatant hate speech and incitement. And there's nothing "complex and nuanced" (though it is devious) about the viciousness of the Israeli leadership which could end this violence tomorrow but chooses to grind the face of Palestinians by demanding their utter submission.

28/10/2015 03:28

ian / australia (3)

(contd.) So, Jeremy, your brother should keep his children in the rental and ideally out of occupied Palestine at least while Israel continues its latest psychopathic rampage through it (with the widespread approval, I'd point out, of Israelis).

28/10/2015 03:31

ian / australia (1)

To aaron "to all those saying israel must be wrong..." Of course, Israel is "wrong" (though evil would be my word). No-one was stabbed and a young girl is dead. Whether there was a knife in her hand or her bag or planted near her body (from a little stash soldiers must keep handy) or if witnesses differ doesn't change the recklessness and contempt

28/10/2015 21:30

ian / australia (2)

(contd.) she was treated with. She was treated how Nazis treated Jews. If they die, they die. Guilty or innocent. Knife or no knife. It doesn't matter. They're animals anyway. (But don't believe me. Look at Eden Levi's Facebook page.)